In the Reins
by Jennifer Hack
Summary: Kind of a more adult version of harvest moon. Jill, our heroine, begins growing something a little unconventional to make the desperately needed money. Some cracked pairings, adult themes, language, etc.
1. Popuri

In the Reins

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A harvest moon fanfic.

Note: Kind of a more adult version of harvest moon. Some cracked pairings, adult themes, language, etc. Currently rated T, please let me know if it needs a higher rating.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter One: Popuri

(1)

Jill stood in the surf under a pale white moon, cool and round like a stone. Her shoes were somewhere else, strewn across the dunes, forgotten. She closed her eyes, remembering the conversation that had taken place hours before.

"You'll be there, right?" Popuri pleaded. "I really, really need you! This is the most important day of my whole life!"

She heard her own voice responding mechanically. "Of course I will."

Skye. She was marrying Skye. Jill was the maid of honor at Popuri and Skye's wedding. "It's always going to be like this, isn't it?" Jill whispered to the waves, wishing she could disappear, and be lost forever in them. "Always the bridesmaid…"

She remembered the first time Popuri and Skye had ever met. She had been the one to introduce them. Well, in a way. Skye never met anyone he didn't mean to.

It was late at night in Summer, Jill ran across the field to Takakura's house. She was nearly shaking with excitement, a new extension to the basement allowed her to grow some very non-traditional produce.

'Cannabis," Jill explained to him. "I can get thousands for it. Thousands and thousands. We can save the farm, We'll be rich."

Takakura smiled at her excitement. "I never thought of that before."

"What are you guys talking about?" Popuri called from Takakura's kitchen. Jill had nearly forgotten. Today was Sunday, the day Popuri and Rick came to visit.

"Oh, nothing, really." Takakura spoke for her, silencing Jill with a glance. "I'm going out for a bit." He said. "You girls can stay here, if you'd like."

"What're you up to?" Jill asked, smiling.

"I'm making curry." Popuri grinned widely, showing all her perfect teeth. As if on cue, thick black smoke came billowing out of the oven and the consistent loud chirping of the fire detector sounded throughout Takakura's little house.

"What do I do? What do I do?" Popuri screamed until Jill came back with a fire extinguisher, covering the kitchen with a thin white film.

Now that she was out of danger, Popuri instantly began to cry.

"I thought I smelled curry," Skye appeared at Takakura's window. "But instead I find a weeping maiden!" He turned to Popuri. "Such a beautiful girl shouldn't have any reason to cry." He spoke softly and offered her the handkerchief from his breast pocket.

There was something about the look in their eyes that made Jill want to vomit.

"I probably would have thrown up." Karen admitted when Jill related the story to her later at Mineral Town's Laundromat.

"They're really kind of perfect for each other. They both love that over-the-top sappy stuff." Jill shrugged, sitting on top of the machine.

"Oh, Gosh!" Karen's eyes grew wide in sudden amusement. "Rick is going to be so angry when he finds out!" And they laughed. "Oh, did you bring me a present?"

"Is it laundry day?" Jill smiled, producing a bottle of sake.

They passed the bottle back and forth in the Laundromat, waiting for their clothes to be dry, and laughed some more.

"Rick's concerned about my liver." Karen began suddenly. "And my driving, and my eating habits, and the amount of sleep I get. It's almost suffocating."

"But he loves you." The sake had made Jill tired and she leaned her head against Karen's shoulder.

"I know," She sighed. "But sometimes… I wonder."

Jill didn't know what to say, so she just listened.

The bell at the entrance to the Laundromat chimed.

"Hey Karen, Jill." Kai smiled.

"Hello, Kai." The girls straightened, hoping they didn't appear drunk.

"We should leave," Karen whispered, giggling.

"Kai-" Jill called out as Karen was dragging her out of the Laundromat before she did something embarrassing.

Kai picked his head up instantly. Jill only stared.

"What is it?" He prompted.

"It was good to see you, today." Jill grinned the most absurdly large grin she could manage.

"I'll be around all summer." Kai smiled.

But that was before. That was before the air grew cold and autumn set in.

"Any farther and you'll float away." Takakura appeared on the white shore.

"Tak…" Jill turned around suddenly. "Sorry, I was just… thinking."

"The first shipment of the season was picked up this afternoon. Your dealer was very pleased with the quality."

"That's good. Vesta and Marlin were worried about competition. I think it's safe to say we're in a very different kind of plant market."

Takakura smiled.

"I'll go home later. Don't worry." Jill said, looking up at the moon.

(2)

Corn grew in the fields, but Jill didn't really harvest it anymore. Mayor Thomas had grown suspicious for a while, so Takakura cleverly explained that Jill was shipping through the cannery.

Jill didn't notice the difference in the forget-me-not valley right away, but Ruby certainly noticed that Rock loafed around a lot more often, perpetually smelling like something she couldn't quite place.

Griffin kept his bar open later, to accommodate the people who wandered in, wide-eyed, hungry, and in want of beer.

Rock started knocking on her door once a week, but everyone else in the valley remained oblivious. Soon, he began selling the plant that grew in the basement too, to support his own habit. Ruby didn't know what he did all day, but was pleased he had a job.

Rock knocked on Jill's door that morning, too, shockingly early for him.

"I need another ounce." He spoke softly through the screen door.

"Already?" Jill rubbed at her eyes sleepily, wearing an oversized t-shirt and a pair of old plaid shorts.

"Gustafa started buying from me."

"Oh," Jill said. "Oh."

Rock walked in and sat at her kitchen table, throwing down a wad of crumpled bills.

"Do you mind if I smoke in here?"

"Not really." Jill said, weighing out her crop on the scale at the kitchen counter.

"I like… love your wall. What colour is it?" Rock spoke slowly after looking around for a little bit.

"Cornflower blue."

"But like… corn is yellow, man. It's yellow." Rock couldn't help but sound bothered. "It's just not right."

Jill stifled a laugh."Here." She handed Rock a plastic bag.

"Hey, Jill." He said suddenly. "You're friends with Naimi, right? She like hates me. She hates me, man. It makes me sad."

"Are you going to Popuri's wedding?"

"Yeah, yeah. Wait, when is it?"

(3)

"Why do we have to wear such ugly dresses?" Karen protested to the mirror in her room over her family's grocery store in Mineral Town.

Jill, sitting on Karen's bed, laughed. The dresses were ugly, a bright coral pink with flowers and lace and ribbons attached to excess. "We don't have to wear them tonight." She shrugged. "There's no wedding tonight. Just the bachelorette party."

"You're right. Tonight, we get to have fun." Karen turned around, flinging the dress at Jill in mock disgust. "Oh, Jill, when you get married, please don't make me wear such an ugly dress."

"I don't think I'll ever get married." Jill said, her voice thoughtful edged with sadness. "I mean, I want to, but,"

"Oh, don't cry. Your mascara is going to run." Karen wiped at the tears forming in the corners of Jill's eyes.

"Sorry." Jill forced a smile.

They walked into the only bar in town, pretty girls in black dresses. "Over here!" Muffy waved. Jill stumbled a little on her high heels, but no one seemed to notice. Popuri ran over and hugged them.

"Oh, I knew you would come!" She smiled. Jill noticed her teeth were perfectly white and straight.

"Where's Celia?" Karen asked Muffy.

"She wasn't feeling very well." Muffy explained, taking a sip of a pina colada. "She wasn't up for going out."

"Poor Celia." Popuri said. Her face was flushed and red from drinking.

"I'm a little nervous about tomorrow." Popuri whispered to Jill.

"Everyone gets a little nervous before their wedding day, I think."

"Oh no, not that at all." Popuri laughed. "The wedding night."

Jill found herself nodding, and marched right up to the bar.

"Tequila on the rocks please."

She downed it in one gulp. The liquid burned her throat as it went down, but it soon subsided and she found herself wanting more. When the second and third were gone, she wanted another.

"Are you alright?" Came the gruff voice of the man sitting next to her.

"Hello, Grey." Jill smiled, swaying only a little.

Grey was leaning over the bar counter, holding his bottle of beer protectively. The hat he always wore covered most of his face, and Jill couldn't see his eyes.

"Hello, Jill." He smiled and waved a little. "Be careful with those," He nodded towards her empty glass. "Otherwise I'm going to have to carry you down the aisle tomorrow."

"W-what?" Jill placed her glass down on the counter and hoped for a refill.

"Popuri decided to make me your escort. My name was next to yours at the rehearsal dinner. You weren't there, though. Neither was Karen."

"Yeah, we decided to get drunk last night instead. And then I forgot." Jill picked up her now full glass and sipped it.

Gray's stern expression softened into a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Came another voice. Jill caught the scent of sea salt and pineapple.

"Kai!" She exclaimed a little too loudly.

"Have you been staying out of trouble?" Kai asked, signaling the barkeep for something to drink.

"Sort of." Jill said.

"Not Really." Grey said at the same time with a chuckle.

Jill remembered the first time she had ever met Kai, wandering on the beach in mineral town with Karen, drunk near midnight.

"Rick wants me to marry him." Karen laughed

"Is that so bad?" Jill wondered. "Do you love him?"

"I don't know. He just complains all the time." Karen shrugged.

"Woah!" Jill's foot had suddenly become caught on a rock, and she tumbled into the sand, pulling Karen with her. They were stunned for a minute, and then began to laugh.

"Is someone out there?" A deep voice came from the wooden shack down the beach.

Karen and Jill screamed and held each other tightly.

The man ran out anxiously, clutching a wooden pole, as if there were monsters outside, not two inebriated girls. Rick must have heard Karen's scream, and rushed to the shore where they had fallen.

"Karen! Karen!" He cried out in desperation. "You!" He shrieked at Kai, who he could recognize, even in the dark. "Me! What did I do?"

"You're always up to something!" Rick shoved him. Kai's hands balled into fists, and Karen pushed herself to her feet and then rushed between them.

"Stop it!" She shouted.

Jill smiled. It was good that Rick wasn't there tonight, Kai and Karen were dancing as Gustafa played an unusually mellow tune.

"I can't believe that out of all of us, Popuri is getting married first." Muffy confided to Jill as she came over to the bar for another pina colada. "I mean, I love her and all, but she can be so childish…"

Popuri was childish. Karen drank. Muffy was pretty, and Celia was sweet. Naimi wandered, and Mary studied, Flora knew karate, Ann liked to cook, Elli was a little clumsy, and Lumina played piano.

"What about me?" Jill wondered out loud.

"Did you say something?" Muffy asked.

"No." Jill shook her head vigorously. "Cheers!" She said suddenly.

"Cheers!" Muffy, instantly distracted smiled and they polished off their drinks. "Oh, Cliff – you look so sad, let me buy you a drink!" She wandered down the bar, grinning widely. Cliff nearly jumped up in surprise.

Jill turned around, ho ping Gray was still there, but he had left, too.

"Doug," Jill called out. "Can you please give me the rest of the bottle?"

(4)

"Jill! Jill! You have to wake up!" Karen was shaking her. She wasn't sure how, but somehow she was on Karen's parent's couch.

"Are we late? Did we miss the wedding?" Jill asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, smearing the makeup from the night before that she hadn't bothered to take off because she had been too drunk.

"No, Jill I-" Karen began, then stopped. "Jill… I slept with Kai last night."

"Did you not want to?" Jill asked.

"No… It was pretty mutual. I – I left before he woke up." Karen wouldn't look at her. "But Rick is going to be furious."

"But you weren't involved with Rick at all." Jill didn't know why she was pushing Karen towards Kai, maybe because she didn't like Rick very much at all.

"You're right but, he's going to be furious all the same." Karen forced a smile. "We should get going, or we will miss the wedding."

(5)

Even in that ugly coral pink dress, Karen looked pretty. Kai escorted her down the aisle to the altar where the Skye was waiting for Popuri, being given away by her brother.

Behind where Jill and Gray were standing, Rick turned red with anger.

"How's your head?" Gray asked, a smile of amusement on his lips.

"It only hurts a little." Jill protested. Gray offered his arm, and she took it, wobbling only a little on the 3-inch heels Popuri insisted she wear.

Rick was still fuming when he gave his sister away. Jill knew she should have been paying attention to other things, her friend, Popuri, who was getting married, or her other friend, Karen, who was, for the very first time in her life, in love, or the other villagers who were in attendance, but she couldn't stop staring at Rick who was the most amusing shade of crimson. He looked like those tomatoes she used to sell, before she moved on to a more profitable plant market.

"Hey, Jill." Rock sauntered over to her during the reception at the inn and spoke in a low voice. "Do you have any hash?"

"I can't believe you!" Rick was suddenly shouting. Rock no longer cared about the hash and Jill no longer cared about selling it. "What have you done!?"

"Back off, Rick." Kai said threateningly, stepping in front of Karen as if to protect her.

"Rick, what's going on?" Popuri rushed over.

"Tell her, Karen! Tell her what you've done!" Rick demanded.

"Stop, please – don't do this now." Karen pleaded. "I was never yours."

"She spent last night with Kai." Rick told his sister, loudly. Jill wanted to hit him, but then decided not to. She wanted to see if Rick and Kai were going to start fighting.

Muffy walked over with two umbrella drinks and placed one in Jill's hand. Not taking her eyes of the scene, she began sipping it.

"W-what? Kai – how could you!" Popuri looked like she was about to cry.

"You made your choice, Popuri. You're already married. Let me make my own decisions, now."

"You're a cad!" Rick pointed at Kai, then turned to Karen. "And you're a slut!"

The crowd gasped. Karen's face hardened. She marched right up to Rick and slapped him. "You asshole." She sneered, and in a very dignified manner, gathered up her ugly pink dress and walked out.

"Should we go after her?" Jill asked Muffy.

"Maybe later. I don't think she wants to see anyone right now."

"Jill. I still need some hash over here." Rock whispered, just loud enough for Muffy to catch it.

"You've got hash?"

Jill looked around and nodded meekly.

"Let's go find Karen and get out of here. This place sucks right now." Muffy grabbed Jill by the arm and left with Rock behind them.

(6)

They ended up out in a cornfield somewhere- Karen found the place.

"I can't believe that actually just happened." Karen admitted, passing around a rolled-up joint and a bottle of liquor, taken from her family's store.

"Rick was kind of being a douchebag." Rock agreed.

"How do you make love stay?" Jill asked aloud, coughing a little on Rock's smoke.

"W-what?" Muffy turned to her suddenly.

"Rick loved Karen, but doesn't anymore, Popuri loved Kai, but married Skye instead. It just seems like such a fickle thing. How do you make love stay? How to you make it a little less fickle?"

Jill suddenly felt uncomfortable because everyone was staring at her. "Take it." Karen said, handing her the liquor bottle. "Take it. You need it more than I do."


	2. Shipping Crates

In the Reins

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Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter Two: Shipping Crates

(1)

"How was the wedding?" Celia asked when Jill came to their storehouse one particularly cold autumn morning for shipping crates.

"It was kind of bad." Jill admitted.

"What do you mean bad?" Vesta asked.

"Kai and Rick got into a fight." Jill explained. "You know how they are."

"What did they fight about?" Marlin's gruff voice came from somewhere behind her.

Jill turned around and looked at him carefully with her dark eyes. "Karen." She said carefully.

"What?" Celia and Vesta sounded equally shocked.

"Karen?" Marlin repeated.

"She's terribly upset about it." Jill added.

"Do you think she'll finally leave that spineless, neurotic bag of-"

"Aunt Vesta!" Celia suddenly said. "You shouldn't talk about Rick that way!"

"I hope so." Jill said quietly, holding the wooden packing crates she came for.

"What are you up to these days Jill?" Marlin asked warily. "Haven't seen you around for plant seeds any more."

"Those are a lot of crates," Vesta commented. "Do you think you'll be able to carry all of those?"

"Let me help you." Marlin volunteered, which was unlike him.

"Thank you." Jill said, a little surprised.

"Marlin!" Vesta smiled broadly. "When did you become such a gentleman?"

Reddening a little, Marlin left the storehouse, with Jill behind him.  
"I think you are up to something." Marlin said as soon as they were far enough away from the storehouse.

"What are you talking about?"

"People aren't coming around for our vegetables anymore." Marlin said. "I'm sure you had something to do with it."

"I'm not growing vegetables. Besides, I would never do that to you guys."

"Then what are all these crates for?" Marlin demanded. Jill didn't answer him. "You've got some nerve," He continued. "Borrowing from the people you're cheating out of an honest living."

"Marlin, I-" Jill protested, they had finally reached the ranch. "I had nothing to do with anything you're talking about!" she looked like she was about to cry. Something in her voice had struck a chord with the angry farmer, and he relented.

"I'm sorry, Jill." Marlin brought a hand to his face. "I shouldn't have jumped at you with an accusation like that. It's just that Celia needs new medicine, and Vesta isn't making as much money as she would have hoped this season…"

"Who do you think you are?" Jill suddenly felt very, very angry. "Ever since I moved here you've been treating me like garbage! Now you want me to feel sorry for you? Because you're sick and your family's sick and you can't go outside when it's raining, you just lash out at everyone? You're not the only one who life's given shit!" Karen's words coming out of her mouth. "Grow up!" She shouted, walking into her house and slamming the door.

Marlin stood on the welcome mat, confused and wondering what just happened. Jill opened the door again.

"And thank you for carrying those crates."

Then the door slammed again.

(2)

The house was quiet once Marlin left. Jill sighed and leaned against the door, allowing herself to sink down to the floor. Why had she gotten so angry? She had never gotten angry before. The phone rang and Jill got up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Jill?" The voice on the other end was muffled. "It's Karen."

"Are you crying?"

"I can't stay here anymore." She said. "Kai asked me to leave with him. I- I probably won't be coming back."

Jill held her breath. "Oh Karen," She said, feeling like she might cry, too, "I don't want you to go."

"Jill, you would never judge me." Karen smiled. "I'm lucky, to have had as good a friend as you."

'_But who will be my friend if you're not here?'_ Jill wanted to say. The line went dead, and Karen was lost forever to the sea, and those distant shores where Kai wandered. She would be content in those strange, hot places, Jill thought, so far away from here. Kai was a romantic, and he would love her just the same tomorrow as he did yesterday, and she would be happy. Maybe she would have children, pretty brown-eyed babies that looked like their father.

Jill cried anyway. The dog, the one she had named Kitty, howled because he didn't understand what was wrong. She gathered the dog up in her arms and held him, because she wanted to hold something, because she would never see her friend again.

(3)

"Are you alright, Rick?" Celia smiled brightly at the visitor on Sunday afternoon, staring out absently at the crop fields. She handed him a steaming mug of something, he wasn't sure what it was, but it smelled sweet.

"Thank you." He said. "I suppose… I suppose you must have heard about Karen."

Celia nodded. "I think… everyone heard."

"Thanks but you don't have to be really nice to me, just because that happened."

"That's not why!" Celia protested. "It's because it's you."

Rick was confused, his eyebrows knitted together beneath his silver-framed glasses.

"You always try to hard to be kind to everyone." Celia looked down and mumbled. "I just… I just wanted to see you smile."

(4)

"Did she really run away with him?" Muffy asked when Jill sat down at her usual barstool on Monday night.

"I think she will be happy." Jill said.

"I think so, too. She always felt so confined living out here."

"I got in a fight with Marlin yesterday." Jill said, finishing off her fifth or sixth drink – she had lost count.

"That's not difficult." Muffy admitted. "You want me to make that a double?"

"Yes please."

"Hello Griffin." Marlin greeted the barkeep behind her. Jill turned around to look at him, hoping she could make him uncomfortable enough to leave with a single glare.

"Did you hear about Karen?" Muffy asked. "She's run away with Kai."

"Strange things happening in this town." Marlin sighed, sitting down. "You having a drink, Jill?"

"I'm having a double." Jill said defensively, as if it made much of a difference.

"Would you mind if I get you a drink?"

Behind the bar, Muffy dropped something.

Jill wanted to say no, but she never was one to pass up free alcohol. "Okay."

"I'm sorry about the way I acted earlier." Marlin admitted as Muffy served Jill her beverage. "And I know it's not an excuse or anything, but I really have been frustrated with Celia's condition lately. I'm worried about her."

Jill felt her fingers brush against the cool glass of her drink, she didn't even know the name of it, something Muffy had concocted just for her. She was listening, but not really. She put her head down on the counter, just for a minute, her eyes were heavy, so she closed them, just for a minute.

"How do you make love stay?" She murmured.

"Looks like you put Jill to sleep, there." Griffin commented with a chuckle. "Poor kid."

"I guess I did run on for a while there." Marlin shrugged.

"Can you take her home, Marlin?" Muffy asked. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course." Marlin finished his drink.

"Are you sure you can carry her?" Muffy asked as Marlin gathered her up in his arms.

"Yeah, she's actually… pretty light."

It wasn't far to get from the Blue Bar to the Ranch, and it was cool outside, the moon hung a little low to the ground, yellowy pale like a piece of paper that had been cut out and fixed in the sky.

The door was open, Marlin managed to get into the house with little effort. The dog, the one she called 'Kitty' picked up it's head, but didn't bark. He was surprised, looking around, how much work Jill had done to the place. There was a kitchen now, a larger set of shelves and a big table, a desk and a computer. He was a little jealous of the 42' TV mounted on the wall and the comfortable-looking sofa. There was a set of stairs and a second floor, he carried her up them to the room with the door, slightly ajar.

Marlin set her down on the bed that was too big for her and covered with pillows of various colours, shapes and sizes. He looked down at her, floating in a sea of cotton and cloth, and covered her with a blanked he found on a nearby armchair. The dog ran in almost immediately and hopped up on the bed and curled up next to her.

"I guess I should get going," He whispered to no one in particular, and left.

(5)

Tuesday was raining and Jill slept all day. She had gotten up to change into a pair of pajamas, and old too-big t-shirt and plaid shorts, her head splitting with pain and her stomach churning.

At first, Jill wondered if she was going to die. Then she realized that this was just a terrible hangover and it would go away if she ignored it. She stood up and then had to lie back down again. She wondered if anyone would notice that she hadn't gotten up today.

There was a knock downstairs. Jill closed her eyes and pretended she didn't hear it. At first she thought it was Rock, but he wasn't due to come by for at least another two days.

Kitty stood over her and watched the door when the sound of footsteps on the stairs reached the dog's ears.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, the pounding resounded in her skull, increasing the pain.

"Hello?" Jill didn't even have to look up to know it was Marlin, she could hear his sour face in his voice.

"I'm not here today." She murmured to her pillow.

He let out a sigh, or maybe a laugh, and crossed the room. "Here," He said gruffly, placing two round white pills into her hand. "It's aspirin. For your headache."

"Don't you have anything stronger? Like a shotgun?" Jill took the aspirin anyway. Marlin handed her a glass of water, and she took that, too.

"Have you had anything to eat?"

"I'm not hungry." Jill insisted. "I feel like I just drank… acid."

Marlin got up and left, Jill waited for the sound of the front door closing, but it never came. Someone was cooking downstairs, and soon Marlin returned with a plate of toast and a cup of coffee.

"Try and eat a little." He insisted.

"No." Jill sounded like a little girl, covering her face with a pillow.

"Jill, stop it." Marlin removed the pillow over her face. "You have to eat something."

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?"

"I'm always nice to you." Marlin said. "But sometimes you make it a little difficult."

Jill slowly sat up and accepted the plate of toast.

"I've been thinking about what you said." Marlin pulled up a chair while Jill nibbled at her toast. "I do get very wrapped up in myself from time to time, and I wanted to thank you for saying what you did."

"I was just angry. I'm sorry." Jill admitted.

(6)

Rock didn't even bother knocking anymore. He let himself in and sat down at the table. Sometimes Kitty barked at him, but not usually. Jill would finally figure out he was there when the smell of marijuana permeated every room of the house.

"I think I need a pound." Rock explained thoughtfully.

"A whole pound?" Jill was surprised. She hadn't bothered getting out of her pajamas before 2PM these days, but today she was being exceptionally lazy, as it was already after 5. "Who's buying from you? You're really going through a pound every 2 weeks?"

"I thought you'd be more excited." Rock was confused.

"Oh, I am." Jill smiled, packing together her plant as tightly as possible in a plastic bag.

"Heard you passed out drunk in the blue bar last night." Rock said. "Props."

"Thank you," Jill smiled and took a little bow, then handed over the biggest cube of grass Rock had ever seen.

"…It's beautiful." Rock breathed. For a minute there, it looked like he might cry.

"I guess I'll see you around, then." Jill delicately picked up the money Rock had dropped on the table and counted it.

"Wait, can't we hang out? Y'know.. . have some beers and watch crazy stuff on the internet?"

Two 6 packs of beer later, Rock had called Muffy, Lumina and Gustafa and invited them over. Jill ran upstairs to change into a white dress, and then had to run out and buy more beer before they showed up.

Half drunk she wandered the streets of the Forget-me-not Valley in search of the elusive booze.

"Griffin!" Jill smiled widely walking into the blue bar, not realizing that Carter and Marlin were now staring at her.

"Hey, Jill! You're all dolled up!"

"I need 2 kegs and a wheelbarrow."

"I think I can do that." Griffin smiled, not exactly surprised. She had stopped being surprising, at least to him. Marlin, on the other hand, was clearly shocked. Jill didn't seem to notice. "I'll have it for you around the back in a minute."

"Maybe a margarita, too?"

Griffin laughed.

"What's all that for?" Naimi asked, who had been sitting nearby the entire time.

"Party at my house." Jill explained. "You should come, too!" She smiled.

"Maybe I will." The redhead smiled in return. "Thanks so much for inviting me."

(7)

When Jill finally got back to the house, Cliff and Rick had arrived with Celia, and Rock answered the door with a cooking pot on his head.

"Jill is here! She's got the beer!" He bellowed out. The quickly-increasing crowed cheered and helped Jill set up the kegs.

What happened next happened very quickly and in a blur. Naimi came, and somehow ended up holding the record for longest keg stand, and Rock kept trying to beat her, but all that he managed to do really was get more drunk.

Cliff was having a hard time loosening up, but with a beer and many refills from Muffy, he disassembled Jill's floor lamp and put the shade on his head, then kept trying to pick a fight with Rick, who was clearly only interested in Celia.

"Rock? Rock?" Naimi yelled, walking though the house. "Have you seen Rock? I can't find him anywhere!"

"Did you try calling him?" Jill suggested, trying to be helpful. She liked helping.

"I think I might do that – can I borrow your cell phone?"

"Of course!" Jill handed over the compact silver flip phone.

"Rock!" Naimi sounded relieved, and wandered away again. "Where are you?"

"I'm… in the bathroom." Rock's voice was weak but she could still hear him, even over all the loud music playing in the background. Naimi walked over to the bathroom, but the door was wide open and the lights were off.

"No Rock, you're not in the bathroom."

"Oh, yeah… I'm not in the bathroom." Rock said as if he was only just coming to this realization himself. "I'm outside going to the bathroom in the bushes."

"Are you okay?"

"…not really."

Naimi walked outside. "Okay, I'm looking for you, where are you?"

"I'm in the bushes, man…"

"Where?" Naimi was almost worried… no, she was worried. She felt responsible – if anything happened to Rock, Ruby would be terribly upset.

All of a sudden, a hand reached out from the hedges and wrapped itself around Naimi's ankle. She screamed and jumped back. "R-Rock?"

"Naimi?"

"Rock – what are you doing?" Naimi ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. Rock was lying on the ground under the hedges looking especially pale and sick.

"I tried to walk but the ground kept moving and it was difficult so I stopped."

"Come on," Naimi kneeled down next to him, pulling him up to his feet and then putting his arm around her shoulder to support him. "Come on, we have to get you home."

Back inside, Cliff had begun to cry.

"Oh sweetie, what's wrong?" Muffy asked.

"No one's gonna love me because I'm too shy and can't talk to women!" Cliff wailed. Jill felt she was obligated to take his drink away.

"Oh Cliff, you're such a nice guy – someday, someone's going to see that, too." Muffy placed a hand on his shoulder consolingly.

"No, I'm going to die old and miserable and alone!" Cliff insisted.

Muffy quickly slapped him. Jill gasped. Cliff was shocked silent.

Then, suddenly, Muffy grabbed him by his shirt collar and kissed him, lampshade and all, smearing bright red lipstick all over his face, but he didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

Jill smiled and excused herself, when there was a knock at the door.

Gustafa got up to answer it before she did, which was surprising given the ridiculous amount of weed he had just smoked.

"Peace, love and happiness brother Marlin!"

Jill didn't even have to see his face for hers to go pale.

"I've come to take Celia home." Marlin sounded angry.

Jill looked around frantically, wondering what to do.

"When she's ready to go, man." Gustafa said.

"Celia! I don't want you here. This is out of control and incredibly lude and inappropriate. If Vesta knew you were here…"

"Marlin please, I'll be home later."

"She doesn't want to leave yet," Rick stepped in.

"Is Jill even here? Does she know what you guys are doing in her house!?" Marlin was clearly outraged, so Jill did the only logical thing she could think of.

She dumped the remainder of her beer into the bonsai tree situated on the bookshelf and climbed out the first floor window, just before Marlin pushed past Gustafa and demanded to know where she was.

Jill didn't really know where she was going, she just ran, trying to get as far away from her house as possible.


	3. weddings & arguments

In the Reins

* * *

Chapter Three: Weddings & Arguments

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything

Note: Thank you very much to everyone who took the time to review.

* * *

(1)

Sometime at around six in the morning, Jill wandered back onto her own property, certain that Marlin had gone home, as well as everybody else. She knocked on Takakura's door, not ready to go home yet.

The door creaked open, and she saw a sliver of the old man's face.

"Am I too late for breakfast?" Jill asked.

"Of course not. You can always come over for breakfast." The door opened a little wider and Takakura smiled. "That must have been some party you had- you've been up all night."

"It was kind of an accident." Jill sat down at Takakura's table, still in her white dress, shivering only a little. He placed a cup of coffee in front of her and then went to get one for himself. "Rock invited all of these people over… everything happened so fast." She wrapped her hands around the steaming mug. "He's selling hash by the pound now."

"I got a letter from the bank today." Takakura said from his kitchen. "You need 10K by the end of the month to pay off the mortgage."

Jill leaned back in her chair and smiled, feeling for the first time completely carefree. "No problem."

"Vesta also came by earlier, while you were out."

"She did?"

"She wanted to apologize on behalf of Marlin."

"He was kind of being an asshole." Jill shrugged.

There was a knock at the door so loud that she nearly jumped. Takakura got up to answer it.

"Good morning! I have the tools you needed repaired. Also, Jill's sprinklers are ready for installation." Gray stood outside.

"Thank you." Takakura smiled. "Why don't you come in? Jill is here and we were just about to eat breakfast."

"I would like that." Gray smiled and took off his hat. "I guess I can put off work for a little while."

"Hello Gray!" Jill smiled brightly as he sat down at the table and Takakura came back with a plate of eggs and toast.

"So what kinds of things do you think you'll grow now that you have sprinklers?" Gray asked, just making conversation.

"Stuff." Jill shrugged, pretending to suddenly be very interested in her cup of coffee.

"Some party last night, huh?" Gray winked.

"You heard about it, too?"

"I saw Marlin on my way over here, he didn't sound too happy about the whole thing." Gray took a helping of eggs and slathered them in Tabasco sauce. "Mary finally decided to set a date."

"Congratulations!" Jill beamed. She had never been good friends with Mary, but she had always liked her.

"I don't know what I would have done if she said no again… This was my third time proposing." He smiled. "We would really like it if you could come to the wedding, Jill. Mary wanted you to be a bridesmaid."

"Of course! I would love to!" She said automatically, even though secretly she wasn't super-excited about wearing another ugly dress and high heels. But, at weddings, there was usually free alcohol, and that made the entire affair worthwhile.

(2)

The sky grew colder in winter, and wrapped itself around Mineral town where Jill had gone to stay for the week to help Mary prepare for the wedding. She was wearing two jackets, and a bright red scarf and mittens Nina had been kind enough to knit for her.

Jill's 'farm' was pretty self-sufficient now, cannabis growing in the basement, complete with automatic timed sprinklers. Her days were her own. Ruby taught her how to cook, but of course the first thing she ever made in her house was pot brownies which she shared with Rock.

"Jill!" Celia greeted her with a hug. "How are you?"

"Cold. How are you?" Jill smiled.

"We just got here, you know – for the wedding tomorrow." Celia explained. "Marlin is up sulking in his room or something, he's been acting weird ever since he found out you were here too. Vesta couldn't make it though- she said she had too many things to do."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Jill liked Vesta, she kept Marlin from saying anything too cruel.

"I was going to go out for a drink later with Rick, Muffy said she might come along – you should come too!" Celia insisted.

(3)

She told herself she was only going to have a few drinks, but a few quickly turned into a lot more. She wasn't sure how it happened, but she ended up taking shots with Cliff, seeing who could last longer. Cliff finally gave up and Jill pumped her fists up in the air, completely enthralled with her victory.

"I miss Karen," She whispered to Celia. "She could beat me at this game."

"It's a shame," Celia frowned a little. "She might still be here… if Marlin hadn't told Rick what had happened. I feel bad for him, but the way he treated Karen, calling her out in public like that…"

"Marlin?"

"Yes. He told Rick about Karen and Kai. He must have seen them that night."

Marlin darkened the door to the bar later, probably to check on Celia. Jill hoped he wouldn't notice her, that maybe she might be overlooked- but then, if she wanted to remain anonymous, she probably shouldn't have worn a red dress.

"Hello, Jill." Marlin said, sitting down next to her.

"Hello." Jill responded icily, her eyes narrowing. She wanted to scream at him for what he had done to Karen.

"Haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah." Jill waited until he wasn't looking anymore and signaled to Doug frantically for another drink.

"I like this place." Marlin said, but Jill wasn't really listening as she quickly consumed her beverage.

"Doug and Ann keep up with it really well." Jill shrugged. "I have to go outside." She announced, no longer willing to converse with the man who had, quite possibly, ruined her friend's life.

"Jill, your coat!" Muffy called after her, but she pretended not to hear.

Once outside, Jill began to run, her heels clanging loudly on the frosty sidewalk. Somewhere in the distance, she thought she might have heard a police siren, and half-wished that they would come and get her, so she could be somewhere else, away from here.

She ran past the darkened windows until she finally reached the pale shores of the beach.

"I need to talk to you." Marlin found her anyway, a scarlet dash against the pristine white snow. "Vesta and Celia have warned me against it, but I'm willing to tell you this anyway."

Jill turned around.

"I want you to marry me."

The world was spinning, around and around, it was all wrong. Jill was suddenly aware of him, how close he was standing to her, his face just hovering above hers, just out of reach. He smelled like fresh cut grass, even in winter.

"Then, I don't think we have very much to talk about." Jill somehow managed to keep her voice level, civil.

"Is this a joke?"

"No."

"A refusal?" He sounded almost hurt, almost human.

"I'm sure your family already has plans for your future."

"Why so blatant a rejection?" Marlin's pain was quickly turning into anger.

"I could never marry you! How can you even ask that after what you did to Karen?" Jill exploded. "And after the way you treated me at my own house! What kind of answer were you expecting?"

"Karen!" Marlin's face clouded.

"You had no right to say anything-"

"He was going to marry her – I had to tell him."

"No he wasn't! Karen never would have agreed to it! And then you came to my house, hurling accusations-"

"Can't you see what you're doing to yourself? I can't believe I felt sorry for you, not taking care of yourself, destroying yourself."

"You're not my mother." Jill snapped.

"And what would she say about you if she was still alive!?" Immediately, Marlin knew he had gone too far.

Jill was completely shocked, if only for a moment. She wanted to hit him for making such a remark, but then she also wanted to cry, lamenting for someone she used to know. She couldn't bear the gaze of his steely green eyes anymore, boring down on her waiting for some kind of reaction, so she looked away.

"Goodbye, Marlin." She spoke so softly she could barely hear her own words, and walked past him, holding herself tightly as if only now feeling how cold winter was.

"Wait-" He called after her. Jill looked back. "It's cold. Take my coat, please." He held it out to her, black made of thick wool. "Please."

But she turned around and kept walking, hoping never to see him again.

(4)

Jill saw him at the wedding, but Marlin didn't stay for the reception.

"He's been acting odd ever since yesterday." Celia explained. "But I don't know what happened."

"I don't know either." Jill lied.


	4. Wayward Girl

In the Reins

* * *

Chapter Four: Wayward Girl

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything

* * *

(1)

Jill hated winter and loved it at the same time. She lie on the hill under the moon for hours, breathing white steam, wondering what it meant.

"Marlin…" She breathed. "How could he love me?" Jill closed her eyes and thought about it. It didn't make sense. What could he have possibly seen in her that made him want to stay with her forever? "Not forever," Jill reminded herself. "Not quite. Love never stays."

_He's not for you._ Came a whisper on the cool air. "Why …do I even care?" She murmured to the atmosphere. "I hate him." She decided, opening her eyes again. "I hate him." She said it over and over again, but each time it didn't sound quite right. The world was spinning around and around, but it was all wrong.

Spring came again, as it always did, and Jill left her red scarf and mittens at home on the way to the blue bar, almost missing them.

"She's confused. Confused and dismal." Marlin muttered to Griffin, already sitting at the counter. Jill knew, by that subtle tone in his voice, that he was talking about her.

"Cliff, what are you doing here?" Muffy said to the man that came in behind her, and Jill was unnoticed. She liked it better that way. "Please, you're just making this harder…"

"I can't go on like this, Muffy. I need you." Cliff sounded almost pleading.

"Not me, you don't need me…" Muffy said softly. "You'll find someone, and she's going to love you…"

"You never really cared, did you?"

Jill felt awkward, like she had just walked into some kind of movie, and couldn't get out again. Griffin had already made her a drink, before she even sat down.

"Let's talk outside," Muffy suggested, and they left.

"Love never stays…" Jill murmured, but no one heard her.

"What happened?" Marlin asked.

"He was too clingy, after Muffy all the time. Wouldn't leave the poor girl alone. She had to break it off."

"I feel bad for him. He really cares about her." Marlin's voice was deep and gruff.

"I feel bad for Muffy." Jill said quietly. "Everyone needs something that's their own."

"That was profound." Griffin chuckled. The phone rang, and he walked off to answer it.

"How is your ranch doing?" Marlin asked.

"Alright, I guess." Jill shrugged, then shivered a little from the draft at the door as Muffy walked back in. "How are Vesta and Celia?" She didn't know why she asked this – she had just seen Celia yesterday.

"Oh, Griffin," Muffy tried very hard, but she was clearly upset. "Can I go upstairs? Just for a little while?"

"Take as much time as you need, Muffy." Griffin smiled. "I don't mind. Just feel better."

"The phone is for you, Jill." Griffin said once Muffy had gone to her room upstairs.

"Hello?"

"I'm freaking out, man!"

"…Rock?"

"FREAKING OUT!" He repeated loudly, as if Jill might not have heard him the first time.

"Why? What's happened?"

"The FEDS man, the fucking feds. They were at my house, talkin' to my mom."

"What?" Jill's eyes went wide. "You mean they're…"

"Yeah, man. We're right in the middle of a fuckin' shit sandwich!"

"Where are you?"

"… in your house. My house was getting scary. Because there were Feds."

"Okay, stay there. I'm coming back." Jill put her hand over the receiver. "Griffin, can I get my tab?" She tried her best to keep her voice level and even. "I have to go right away – it's an emergency."

"On the house. You just take care of it."

"Thank you." Jill handed him the phone, and walked out. Once outside, she broke into a run.

(2)

"What did you tell them?" She burst into the door of her house.

"Nothing." Rock admitted, seated on her couch, watching T.V. "They want to do a thorough investigation, though."

"Fuck." Jill said angrily, with so much enthusiasm that Rock was surprised. "Not you, not mad at you." She quickly added, apologetically. "You want a beer? I need a beer." She said, walking straight to the refrigerator.

She handed him his promised beer, and Rock sighed. "We drink our beer and wonder why we're really here."

"Are you high right now?" Jill was surprised.

"…maybe." He admitted. "We have to like… do something." Rock insisted. "like, right now is good, because I know everything."

"Oh God… I don't want to go to jail…" Jill held her head in her hands.

"On a lighter note," Rock leaned back in his chair, producing a bowl out of nowhere and lighting it. "The cooking contest is tomorrow."

"yeah." Jill leaned forward, resting her head on her arms.

"You entering?"

"Are pot brownies a legitimate food item?"

(3)

"This… this is amazing!" Gourmet announced. "These are the best brownies I have ever tasted!"

Jill merely smiled, but Rock was beaming, barely able to control his laughter.

"The winner of this year's competition is… Jill!" Gourmet shouted. There was applause and envious faces.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Jill whispered to Takakura.

"It did." Takakura smiled broadly. "Get up there."

(4)

"These brownies are like…awesome." Rock said for the fifth or sixth time. "Awesome."

"Maybe they won't be able to get a warrant…" Jill murmured hopefully, trying to learn whatever she could about FBI investigations on the internet.

"How could make such a conflagration of awesome and not eat it!!" Rock demanded, helping himself to another brownie. "I don't think I've ever seen you smoke, either."

"I tried once or twice, but I kept getting sick." Jill admitted, eyes still glued to the computer screen as if it held somewhere the key to her salvation.

"Was there a reason why the FBI was at my house?" Gustafa let himself in, exuding an strong odor of marijuana. No one really bothered knocking on Jill's door anymore, they just sort of showed up.

"They think Jill is growing hash in the basement." Rock shrugged.

"But she is growing hash in the basement."

"And therein lies our problem." He sighed and shook his head.

There was a knock at the door, and immediately Jill knew it wasn't a friend. Friends didn't knock. Nervously, hands shaking a little, she went and answered it while Rock and Gustafa gripped each other in fear.

"…Marlin?" She nearly gasped, peering out a tiny crack in the door. "what are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?" He asked in what Jill thought was a surprisingly polite manner.

"Um," She cast a glance back at Rock and Gustafa and they scrambled to hide the drugs. "Sure. Sure, no problem." Hoping she didn't sound too suspicious and awkward, she held the door open a little wider, and Marlin walked in.

"Are you in some kind of trouble? The FBI came by this morning and was asking me questions."

Jill couldn't even breathe, all the air had gone out of her. Should she even tell him what had happened, or would that only make him hate her more?

"You might as well tell him," Rock insisted. "I still know everything." he whispered to Gustafa.

Jill turned around and closed the door. "Marlin…" she spoke softly. "The FBI is investigating me because they think I'm growing cannabis in my basement."

"Are you?" Marlin peered down his nose at her. Jill wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor, wondering what might happen if she did, dissolving into little molecules of water and oxygen and then scattered to the wind, like tears.

"I think I might be."

"And therein lies our problem." Rock slammed his hands down on the kitchen table, still feeling absolutely brilliant.

"It was the only way to pay off everything for the house… I- I couldn't pay the mortgage or the taxes, and I still had to pay off the second loan my mother took out…" Jill mumbled, wondering if Marlin heard her or even cared.

"I have to go. I have to leave." He sighed, not sounding angry, only disappointed. Quietly he opened the door and left. Jill watched his retreating back fade farther and farther away, and wondered if she was ever going to see him again.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Rock asked.

Jill felt herself nodding, the automatic response whenever anyone asked. She wanted to chase after Marlin, and throw himself into his arms, breathe in the smell of fresh cut grass, just so he could hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right. But that would never happen now, she had ruined it.

She couldn't breathe again, the world around her was growing smaller and smaller.

"Where are you going?" She didn't know if Rock was asking or if Gustafa was, but somehow her hand was on the doorknob and she stepped out into the spring twilight outside.

It was still cool in spring, the water was freezing, too cold for swimming. Jill dove into the ocean anyway, shocked by temperature if only for a moment. She float on her back staring at the rising moon, the sky still a little purple from the setting sun.

"I'm not drowning," Jill told herself. "I'm just going to float like this for a little while." She half wanted Marlin to come back and pull her out of the watery depths before she grew too cold, but he wouldn't. No one was coming.

She tumbled back to the shore on a wave, her clothes stuck to her skin chilling her to the bone.

"Jill, Jill!" Takakura said chidingly, helping her get up. "You're going to freeze to death – what were you thinking?"

"At least I have you," Jill muttered. "You're like the father I never had."

"We really should get you to the clinic…" Takakura said. Somehow, he carried her, and Jill was too dazed to argue.


	5. Secret Lives

In the Reins

Chapter Five: Secret Lives

* * *

Disclaimer: Still own nothing. Not gonna change anytime soon.

Note: I'm so happy I'm getting so much feedback! Thank you everyone. One more chapter left and I'm done. Also, yes - I did base the Marlin/Jill off of Pride & Prejudice- It's such a great story. Everyone should read it. Okay bye.

* * *

(1)

It had been an unusually cold spring, but Cliff waited outside anyway, sitting on the fence waiting for the light over the blue bar to go on. He shivered in his jacket, and wondered why he was there again.

He held his breath when finally the light did turn on, pouring over him in ribbons and waves. And there she was, smiling down at him. No, not smiling at him, smiling at her reflection. She couldn't see him because he was in the dark, completely wrapped in it.

"Muffy," He breathed in a whisper. But she didn't hear him. She was crying.

Then Griffin was behind her, smiling a tired smile, and placed a hand on her shoulder. Muffy turned to him with glassy eyes, and cried against his chest. Surprised, bewildered, Griffin placed his arms around her, still not really knowing why she chose him.

And Cliff wasn't upset anymore. His hands clenched together on their own, leaving white slivery marks on his palms, and his face hardened. He reached for the ground and picked up a rock, white and smooth, and threw it at them in a desperate rage and ran. If he had looked back, he would have seen Muffy's face, pale and scared – it might have even made him smile.

(2)

When Jill woke up, it was morning again. Somehow, she was in a lightweight hospital gown and there was something attached to her wrist. An immediate glance at her surroundings told her she wasn't in the Forget-me-Not valley anymore.

"Oh, Jill – thank god."

"Karen?" Jill felt salt pools of moisture forming at the corners of her eyes. "Karen – is that you?"

"Of course it's me. I heard about what happened – oh, Jill, what were you thinking?"

There were many ways to answer this, but Jill felt silly saying that she threw herself into the sea in a fit of abstracted romantic despair, so she said nothing.

"You came back, though." Jill smiled.

"Stick-in-the-mud-Marlin got a hold of me. They had to airlift you to the city hospital because you got such a terrible fever." She explained. "Everyone was so worried about you."

"Marlin?" Jill sat up.

"Duuuude!" Rock burst into the room, grinning wildly. "You're alive!" He looked like he might have been crying, afraid she might not have been. Rock walked over and nearly crushed Jill in a bear hug. "I'm so happy."

"Are you high?" Karen asked.

"…maybe." Rock shrugged. "The Feds are gone! They left town, said that they didn't have enough evidence to support further investigation."

"Really?" Jill thought she was going to cry again, relieved. "That's amazing. I-I'm so glad."

"Are you crying, Jill?" Karen smiled.

"N-no…" She protested. "It's strange… somehow, everything is all right again, but…" Jill looked around. "You mentioned Marlin – what happened?" she tried her best not to sound too hopeful.

"Takakura took you to Dr. Hardy," Karen began. "After your accident. Marlin arranged to have you taken to the city hospital."

"Really? He did that?" Jill brought her hands to her mouth.

"And he lied to the FBI," Rock held up his arm, happy to contribute to the conversation. "He told them something, got them to leave. He asked me not to tell you, though."

She was so surprised she didn't know what to say. "Where is he? Where is Marlin?"

"He went home." Karen explained. "I'm so happy you're okay. He sounded so worried."

They let her leave that day, and Karen took her home. They drove in her car until the city buildings grew smaller and smaller and sprawled out against a greener landscape. Rock sat in the backseat singing mindlessly along to anything that played on the radio, whether he actually knew the words or not.

"Kai and I got an apartment in the city." Karen smiled. "It's not a terrible drive to get back out to mineral town, just a few hours. You should come and visit! Whenever, really. I miss hanging out with you."

Jill smiled and spoke, but was prone to lapsing into long silences, staring up at the clouds through the sun roof.

(3)

When they finally arrived home, Karen insisted on carrying her one bag upstairs, gave her a hug and promised to call.

It grew dark more slowly in the spring, and settled quietly. Jill tried to sleep but couldn't. The dog she named Kitty curled up on her chest snoring a little, and she stared out the window at the moon. Not really knowing why, she cried. When she was done, she wiped her face and got dressed again, carefully painting on makeup and left, some bar bound.

Griffin wasn't behind the bar counter like he usually was, and then Jill remembered it was probably close to 3 in the morning. Marlin was there, sitting with his back to her, Jill didn't see him right away, until he turned around to see who had just come in.

"Jill I-" He began in a low voice.

Jill didn't want to talk. Not right then. In a shockingly daring move she marched forward, quickly but gently placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. Marlin pushed back against her, his hands, worn and a little calloused from years of farm work, moved across her back anchoring her in a spinning world.

"You smell like grass," Jill murmured against his mouth, grinning like a fool. Fresh cut grass, she had always loved that smell.

"What?" Marlin smiled down on her, his grip on her relaxing a little.

She laughed a little then grabbed his face and kissed him again. He reacted to her instantly, wrapping his arms around her tightly, but not too tight.

Somehow they decided to leave and head to Marlin's house. It was raining outside, Jill laughed as she nearly fell in a puddle and Marlin held her hand\- not laughing, he was too serious for laughing, but he smiled.

It was still raining in the morning, windy and cold, but Jill was warm. Marlin was at her back, still holding her the way he was before they had drifted off to sleep. Their clothes were scattered around Marlin's room, but she wasn't ready to start collecting her things just yet. He loved her. She was a mess, and he still loved her. She traced along the contours of his arm, lying across her chest.

"Marry me." Marlin murmured, still half asleep.

Jill turned her head around to look at him. "Okay."

(4)

They didn't tell anyone, not at first. Marlin wanted to wait a year before actually getting married.

"You're engaged?" Rock coughed on his own smoke. "When the hell did that happen?"

"I don't really want to tell people right now." Jill explained. "Because then they're going to start congratulating me and I don't want to have to talk to them and do things."

"Yeah, I don't like doing things either." Rock admitted. "Me and Nami made out in a supply closet last night." He said proudly.

Jill laughed. "I wonder what Ruby would say."

"Are you kidding? She'd be super excited. She loves Nami." Rock leaned back to take another hit. "I love Nami, too." He sounded dazed as he said it, if he was only just realizing it then, at that very moment. "Cliff is totally balling though."

"Cliff?"

"Well like… Muffy like… broke it off with him. He has not been taking that well."

"Poor guy." Jill sighed.

"He's scaring the shit out of me, man, honestly." Rock shook his head and leaned forward. "He's like… totally obsessed with Muffy."

"That's… not weird." Jill said in such a way that made it clear that she thought the situation was very weird.

"People are strange." Rock nodded. "People are strange."

(5)

"Can you just look at it for me?" Jill pleaded with Karen, sitting on her bathroom floor. It was midsummer, the entire house was hot and sticky.

"I can't touch it! You peed on that!" Karen protested. "I can't believe you actually got knocked up. Good job. Now we can't go out drinking for like, 9 months."

"I haven't even looked at it yet!" Jill protested. "I can't take care of a kid… I can't even take care of myself." She murmured.

Karen crossed the bathroom and peered down at the pharmacy bought pregnancy test that she had purchased because Jill was to afraid to go in herself.

"It's a plus." She said quietly. "Congratulations?"

"I don't know." Jill looked down at her feet. Still, she couldn't help the series of images that came into her head. A little boy, with bright green eyes like Marlin, or a little girl with dark hair, laughing wildly as Marlin tickled them, his stern demeanor softening in the presence of his child. "I have to go talk to Marlin," She stood up suddenly.

"Jill, he's probably still working – hey, Jill!" Karen called after her, but Jill was gone, the screen door still open in the hot air.

Marlin was working in the storehouse, jaw clenched tightly in an angry line, a little red from working in the summer heat all day, hauling shipping crates and stacking them, in some pattern Jill was unable to decipher.

"Oh- Jill!" Marlin's stern face fell the moment he saw her. "I didn't know you were coming by today." He stopped what he was doing and kissed her roughly in greeting.

"I'm pregnant." She said carefully, not attaching any sort of emotion to the statement.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Marlin kissed her again. He was happy. Of course he was happy, Jill sighed in relief, stepping into his embrace.

"Jill and Marlin!" Vesta burst in suddenly. "That's unexpected!"

"We're engaged." Jill tried to sound as casual as possible. If she was going to have Marlin's kid, they might as well start telling people they were getting married.

"When did that happen?" Vesta's face changed over to an expression of shock. "Sorry, I mean, Congratulations…" Jill couldn't help but smile.

(6)

At the end of summer the air dried out a little, breezy and hot.

Jill was lying out in the cornfield, staring up at the fading sun, wondering if Marlin was really as happy about a baby as he said he was.

"Of course he's happy," She murmured to herself. "He'd be a great father…"

It felt like something snapped, and there wasn't any pain, not really. Blood was everywhere and it wouldn't stop. In a panic Jill scrambled to her feet, somehow managing to drag herself into her house.

She didn't know if she should call someone. She didn't know what to do at all, really. Kitty was barking frantically, as if Jill already didn't know that something was wrong.

She tried to go upstairs, but didn't quite make it, and instead sat on the kitchen floor. She didn't feel a thing, no pain, just blood. Everything around her grew lighter and lighter, until it suddenly got very dark.

(7)

Marlin had just scrubbed his face clean from the grime of the day, and was wondering why he hadn't heard from Jill yet. He walked down into the kitchen, where Celia was washing dishes.

"Need any help?" He asked.

"Sure!" Celia smiled brightly. "You can dry."

Then there was a very loud knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Marlin called out, trying to remember if he actually knew anyone that obnoxious.

"Rock!" he called out as Marlin opened the door.

"Hey man, I know we haven't talked much, and I apologize. That's partially my fault." Rock began. "But you got your life and I got mine, and we just have different interests, y'know? Doesn't mean I hate you or you dislike me, that's just the way it is. I hope we can become better friends in the future. You're good to my main man, Jill and I got no problems."

"…What are you talking about?" Marlin asked.

"OH!" Rock exclaimed suddenly, as if he had just remembered. "Oh! You gotta come with me like, right now. Jill was bleeding like WOAH."

"Where is she?" Marlin's face immediately became hard and his eyes cloudy.

"I got her to the clinic. I showed up and was like 'WTF that's a lot of blood', and then Jill was all passed out on the floor and that dog was barking and making scary noises."

"Thank you," Marlin pushed past him, still holding the dishtowel that he had forgotten, in his panic, to return to Celia.


	6. Fear

In the Reins

Chapter Six: Fear

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Note: Okay, I know I said this would be the last chapter, but I had to break it up, so there's going to be one more. Sorry!

* * *

(1)

"Jill is all right. She's awake." Dr. Hardy explained to Marlin, looking just as serious as ever.

Marlin couldn't bring himself to look at the doctor, so he stared at other things. The window, his bonsai tree collection, the floor.

"She lost the baby."

"What? Why? What happened?" Marlin locked eyes with Hardy, pained more that he expected by this sudden turn of events.

"A miscarriage. These things happen from time to time." Hardy explained sadly. "She's very upset about it – she wants to see you."

Jill cringed behind a thick curtain, hearing them talk about her like she wasn't even there. A shadow fell over her, and she couldn't hide anymore. Marlin sat down beside her on the hospital bed and took her smaller hands in his.

"Your hands are cold." He commented, his gruff voice softened, gentle and despairing.

"I'm so sorry, Marlin," Jill began, tearing up a little.

"It's not your fault," He said automatically, because that's what you were supposed to say.

"I didn't want it. It knew I didn't want it and that's why this happened."

"What are you talking about?" Marlin was genuinely confused.

"I wasn't ready. It's my fault." Jill was talking nonsense, saying the same thing over and over again. Marlin couldn't do anything, except watch her cry.

He took her home, cooked her food that she couldn't bring herself to eat and stayed with her all night.

Jill lie awake for hours after Marlin had gone to sleep next to her, she pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat, a sign that he was alive and real, and not about to fade away on some dry, hot breezy afternoon.

_She lost the baby._

Jill closed her eyes, as if she had simply forgotten it somewhere. _You said you didn't want it… over and over… _

"I didn't mean it." She protested in a whisper. "I didn't mean it."

The next morning she was back on her own side of the bed, carefully tucked in, the dog, Kitty, curled up behind her knee.

"She's still sleeping," Marlin's voice came from the other room. "… She's taking it pretty hard." He swallowed, speaking as low as possible. "I'll do that. Thanks for calling."

Jill heard his footsteps in the hallway, and then he came back, crossing the room to sit down next to her.

"How are you feeling?" He spoke gently.

"I'm fine, really. Just… a little tired." Jill murmured, keeping her eyes closed.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Bottle of whiskey, please."

Marlin smiled, even laughed a little. "I meant water or something."

"That was Karen, wasn't it? On the phone?" She turned her head a little so she could look up at him, and reached out to rest her hand on his arm.

"She wanted to know how you were." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, smiling sadly. "You're sure you're all right?"

Jill only smiled in a way that suggested she wasn't really all right at all.

"I wish I could do something for you."

"Marlin," Jill began, smile fading. "What if there are others? What if I can't have children?" She leaned into him, forcing him to hold her, but he didn't say anything. _Would you stay?_

(2)

Muffy hated being alone at night, feeling as if something was creeping in the dark and watching her. Sometimes, whenever she looked out the window, a figure stood just beyond the lamplight, shadowy and menacing.

Whenever that happened, she went downstairs to where Griffin slept and stayed with him, but on nights like that, she found things outside her window the next morning. Stones, rotted fruit, once, there was a dead bluebird. That day she ran downstairs and cried, and Griffin called the police, not knowing what else to do.

(3)

Marlin had started leaving his things at Jill's house after that, a toothbrush, some clothes. He never really asked about the basement, he didn't seem to mind. He worried for her sometimes, with all of the things she didn't say. How she woke screaming one night, their limbs entangled, and couldn't go back to sleep again.

Celia's condition had started getting worse, the only solution Hardy could reach was a very costly operation in the city.

"There's no way in the world I could come up with that much money," Vesta spoke to Marlin in a hushed voice in Jill's kitchen, not wishing to discuss the subject in front of Celia.

"How much do you need?" Jill asked from the stairs, catching them by surprise.

"I couldn't ask-" Vesta trailed off.

"You didn't ask." Jill said with a smile. "I'm offering."

Marlin left for the week to take Celia into the city, because Vesta couldn't leave.

Jill missed him more than she thought she would, wearing his shirts to bed and sleeping on his pillow.

"I'm throwing a party. But it has to be at your house. Because my mom doesn't know I drink. Or smoke." Rock said, helping himself to the leftovers in Jill's refrigerator.

Jill laughed a little from where she was perched on the kitchen counter. "Oh, gimmie some of that macaroni!" She said reaching for the large bowl Rock was holding with a fork.

"Nami said she loves me." Rock confessed. "But man… I have no idea why. I'm like… kind of blazed like all the time."

Jill laughed at this. "Yeah you are." Then she grew silent, stabbing the leftover food contemplatively with her fork.

"But like…Who knows why people fall in love." Rock decided he didn't want food anymore, he wanted to smoke. Jill thought about Marlin, how he loved her despite all of her habits, despite everything she had ever done.

"Falling in love isn't the great mystery, I think." Jill said. "It's staying in love. How do you make it stay?"

"Woah. Like, I am nowhere near thinking that far ahead." Rock held up his hands. "Back up the truck. I forget things if I think that far ahead. My memory isn't so good anymore."

(4)

"How many people did you invite?" Jill came back downstairs, wearing a red dress and earrings Marlin had given her.

"I don't know."

"…Do we need more beer?" Jill poked her head into the fridge. "Rock…" She straightened instantly. "What happened to all the food?" The refrigerator was completely packed with beer cans. She opened the freezer to see if there was any food in there, but that was filled with beer cans, too.

"Oh. I don't remember." He said from the couch, where he was watching T.V. "Yeah," He smiled. "Yeah I do. I got the munchies, and also needed to put the beer somewhere. So it worked out."

Jill shrugged. "Works."

Kai and Karen arrived first, with a pitcher of some 90 liquor concoction that she had made.

"You have to see this," Jill grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over to the fridge and opened it.

"That is beautiful." Karen stared, completely in awe.

"Do you want one?" Jill offered.

"But…That would ruin it."

She drank the beer anyway, everyone did. Nearly overwhelmed with all of the people streaming through her house, Jill escaped outside, clutching a cigarette in one hand, a bottle of whiskey in the other.

"Does Marlin know you smoke?" Muffy asked with a smile.

"I don't really." Jill shrugged. "How are you doing?"

"Alright, I think." Muffy said, sounding a little downcast. "I suppose you've heard from Rock about how I'm going crazy, afraid of the dark."

"Do you really think its Cliff?" Jill asked, taking a heavy swig from her bottle.

And then Muffy's story came, wave after wave of tears, regrets. "I never meant to hurt him, but I just can't love him. He would let me alone, and now he's hurting me." They sat on some cheap plastic lawn furniture and Jill listened to every word, although, with each sip from the bottle the words made less and less sense.

"I love Griffin," Muffy continued. "I really, really do. He would never judge me, he doesn't treat me like some common…. He doesn't see me the way other men have."

"Hey. Muffy…" Jill said suddenly, after a long silence, her bottle of whiskey nearly empty. "I was pregnant." She said quietly. "I didn't think I wanted it, but Marlin was so happy…"

"What happened?"

"I… had a miscarriage." Jill polished off her bottle. "I'm worried… I'm worried Marlin might leave if I can't have children."

"Did you tell him about it?" Muffy asked, suddenly concerned. "Did you tell him you were worried?"

"No… I- I just… what is someone supposed to say to a question like that? 'No, darling, no sweet, I would never leave you'? That's the only answer to that question."

"Come on," Muffy stood up. "We're gonna call him."

"No, Muffy – I'm drunk…" Jill was too tired to stand up, anyway.

"Rock, you're drunk…" Nami's voice came from the side of the house.

"I mean it though, I really do." Rock protested. "I love you, Nami."

"Ask me tomorrow." Nami said. "Ask me tomorrow if you still meant it."

Muffy pulled her up from her chair and led her upstairs. "Let's call Marlin!" She said excitedly.

"Do you think he'd be mad?" Jill asked, glancing at the clock. "I think he might be mad." It was nearly two in the morning.

"Marlin! Hi!" Muffy said excitedly into the receiver.

"No! No you can't!" Jill protested immediately, snatching the phone away from her. "Em, yes, g' morning." She spoke quickly, with a surprisingly convincing British accent.

"Who is this?" Marlin asked, his voice a little raspy and tired after being woken up in the middle of the night.

"Oh! Terribly sorry to have bothered you, but it appears I've rang the wrong number." Jill slammed down the phone back down on the receiver. "We woke him up." She said sadly. "I hope he can get back to sleep."

The phone rang in her lap, and they both jumped back a little with a scream.

"What do I do?" Jill asked in a panic.

"Answer it!"

"…Hello?" After she said it, Jill wondered if should have tried to make herself sound like she had been sleeping too.

"Jill? Did you just call me pretending to be a British person?" Marlin didn't sound angry, just confused.

"I think I might have." Jill admitted.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just drunk."

"Are you all right?" He repeated the question.

"…I miss you."

There was a silence on the other end. "I miss you, too." His voice was softer when he spoke again. "Is someone there with you?"

"Muffy is here."

"Okay." He sounded a little relieved.

"I love you." Jill said, as if she had said it thousands of times, not realizing she had never told him that before, never in words.

"I love you, too."

Then she hung up. "What?" Jill turned to Muffy, sounding defensive.

"That was so sweet!" Muffy smiled so wide her eyes closed.

"Get me another beer!" Jill demanded with mock harshness, and they laughed.

(5)

Marlin sighed heavily with a small smile when he returned from the city to find the front lawn littered with beer cans.

Rock was sleeping like a stone in the bathtub, Jill fast asleep on the couch, still dressed for a party. Marlin leaned over and gently kissed her cheek, his wayward girl.

"Marlin," Jill smiled in her sleep. "How's Celia doing?"

"I think I'm more worried about your liver right now." He laughed a little, and Jill sat up.

"Don't make fun of me." She protested, suddenly realizing she had a terrible headache. "It was Rock's idea. Takakura isn't going to be very happy, is he?"

"Celia is fine, she did really well." Marlin said, smile still on his face.

"Good." Jill nodded a little.

They were married in the Autumn of that year, without any sort of ceremony. They signed their names to a marriage license before Mayor Thomas and it was done – she had wanted it that way.

Marlin came home from work one day to find the house strangely quiet, Jill hugging her knees to her chest staring out into nothing, bloodied sheets stripped from their bed.

"How far along were you?"

"Only about a month."

"Come on," He said. "Let's go. Let's go out somewhere."


	7. A Ransom

In the Reins

Chapter Seven: A Ransom

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed - that's all!

(1)

Marlin waited for Jill at the bottom of the stairs, and she came down wearing a white dress and an iron grey sweater, fidgeting with the wedding ring on her left hand, a nervous habit – he had come to notice.

The went to the inn where Ruby cooked for them, Jill smiled and ate a little, and asked Ruby questions, how she was, how business was going. She reached for Marlin's hand under the table, something she didn't usually do, and he wrapped his hand around her cool fingers.

"Did you know Rock and Nami were seeing each other?" Ruby suddenly announced, sounding a little surprised.

They went to the bar after. Finally, they wandered home, Jill's hand on Marlin's arm, as they had hundreds of times before. There was a strange kind of comfort in that, and she wondered if it could really always be that way.

"I used to be wild…" She realized to herself, staring out into the blackness that surrounded them, fingers wrapped around Marlin's white shirt. The world that surrounded them was frightening, there were monsters in that darkness, Muffy knew.

Marlin kissed Jill roughly on the cheek before going upstairs to their bed to read for a while, and Jill was alone in a perfect kitchen. She thought about going outside again, her hand on the doorknob, wandering off to the bar late at night, but she didn't want to. Not now. She moved her hand instead to the lock, closing the door tightly.

Then she went upstairs, the door to their room slightly ajar, light streaming out into the hallway.

"Hey, you." Marlin looked up at his wife standing in the doorway.

She smiled that same tired, sad smile and went to him with a kiss. Marlin enveloped her in his arms and they stayed like that for a while, Jill pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It was foolish, she realized, to think that he would ever leave her, and because of that she held him tighter.

It was raining the next day when Jill woke up. Marlin had already left for work. The air cooled and clung to the circular space on her bare shoulder where he had left a kiss.

(2)

Months had passed, and it was winter again.

"I honestly don't know what he saw in her," Marlin overheard Vesta say one day. "But he saw something."

"I think he's happy." Celia insisted.

"I think he is, too."

`(3)

Jill had gone to the bar that night, smiling and secretive.

"How come you're only having ginger-ale?" Rock asked.

"Didn't feel like drinking." Jill shrugged.

"You always feel like drinking." Rock stated.

It hadn't been very long, just a little over a month. She hadn't even told Marlin yet, but she had already begun to hope.

Cliff seemed to appear out of the blackness outside, a creation of dark particles falling from the atmosphere.

Muffy's face became pale and she looked down at the floor, unable to meet his dark eyes.

"I'll take care of this." Griffin said softly, stepping out from behind the bar counter, his expression serious but lacking malice. "Cliff, I think you should be getting home tonight."

"Got no one to go home to." Cliff said gruffly. "Not anymore." There was something in his jacket, something small. Jill didn't even hear the first gunshot because she was still in shock at Cliff even possessing a gun in the first place.

Rock stared at Griffin, wide-eyed and frightened, as the barkeep stood stoically for a moment before sinking to the floor, clutching at his chest. Then he started screaming, curses over and over again as loud as he possibly could.

The weren't the only ones that heard the shots, or the screaming. Naimi, Ruby and Celia, in the Inn next door immediately flew into a panic.

"This doesn't happen here…" Celia was so afraid she could barely speak. "Things like this don't happen here."

Jill looked from Cliff to Muffy, and saw the murder in his eyes. She was already screaming for Griffin, completely unaware that now she was in danger. It was only then that Cliff noticed Jill.

"It's for Marlin's own good," He said, pointing the barrel straight at her. "You women… you're all the same. So fickle, so frail. Loving one moment, cold as ice the next." He turned to Muffy again. "Or maybe it should be you. This is all your fault, you know."

Rock grabbed Jill's arm and squeezed it until his knuckles turned white, while Muffy cried.

"So choose." Cliff pointed the gun back and forth between them. "Which Jezebel should I kill?"

Muffy and Jill looked at each other, wide eyed and afraid.

"Cliff you don't have to…" Muffy began.

"Yes I do." He responded coolly, cocking back the gun."You have driven me to this. This is your doing." Cliff glared at Muffy, his eyes burning with hatred. Jill began to back off of her barstool slowly, clutching her glass tightly and prying free from Rock's grasp. Muffy saw her, unable to fully comprehend what she was doing.

"Cliff, please." Muffy pleaded. "You… you've hurt me so much already."

Now Jill was running. The gun went off, and her right arm staggered back slightly, but she refused to stop, smashing the thick beer glass against Cliffs head with her left hand, all of her remaining strength focused into a single blow.

Cliff fell to the floor instantly, and Jill sank to her knees once he was unconscious, once they were out of danger.

Muffy was screaming, but Jill could barely hear her. Rock was frantically shouting into the phone.

Somehow, Marlin had gotten there, bending over her, his eyes glazed over with moisture and salt. She had never seen him cry before, but she could hardly marvel at that now. She smiled when she saw him, the man that had loved her anyway.

"Oh please don't cry," Jill pleaded with him, her voice sounding faint and distant. "I can't leave you… I wouldn't."

(4)

When she woke up again, Jill was surrounded by white. There was a dull numbness in her shoulder, and it had been bandaged tightly, and there was a weight on her chest.

"Marlin," She breathed. Jill didn't even have to open her eyes to know it was him, she could recognize him by the faint scent of fresh grass.

He picked his head up slowly, after hearing his own name. "Jill," He smiled. "You're awake."

"You look so tired," Jill looked up at him with a slight frown of worry, reaching out to touch him with her good arm.

"Glad to see you're awake," Doctor Hardy walked in, a twisted sort of smile on his face. "She's gonna be just fine." Hardy informed Marlin. "No vital organs were punctured, just a little blood loss. Should be able to use that arm again in a few short months." He examined the clipboard in his hands briefly. "And…" Hardy began. "The baby is just fine too. No abnormalities."

"What?" Marlin looked from Hardy and back to Jill again.

"I was waiting to tell you… Because of what had happened before." Jill looked up suddenly. "Griffin, where is Griffin?"

"Still unconscious. He needed a blood transfusion, but he's holding up just fine." Hardy laughed a little. "I more worried about you, Marlin, living with this wildwoman. I still don't understand what you were thinking, going after a gunman with just a beer glass."

"Dude!" Rock burst in. "Balls of steel, man. Chick's got balls of steel."

"Hey, get out of here!" Marlin yelled, still with a huge grin on his face.

"You're okay!" Jill grinned.

"I might need trauma counseling." Rock shrugged. "Or maybe I'll just go clambake with Gustafa later. That usually helps resolve all of my problems."

FIN.


End file.
